Match Day 2011, this year, on St. Patrick's Day

UVA School of Medicine Celebrates Match Day 2011 as 133 Students Move Forward to Residency

Students on Match Day which this year fell on St. Patrick's Day. T-Shirts read, "Kiss me, I'm Matched."

Charlottesville, Va., March 17, 2011 – Among a field of green,
shamrock-printed t-shirts that read, “Kiss Me, I'm Matched,” were
Maureen Dale and Laura Page, both fourth-year medical students at the
University of Virginia. Betting on years of hard work – and a little
luck of the Irish -- the two friends had brought baseball caps from
their first-choice residency programs to wear if they matched – Dale
with UNC-Chapel Hill and Page with Duke University.

Just after noon on Thursday, March 17, 2011, all 133 residency-bound
UVA medical students anxiously opened their envelopes. Dale and
Page quickly donned their blue, albeit rival, caps as the old medical
school auditorium erupted in congratulations from family, friends,
fellow classmates and faculty members.

“I can’t believe we both got our first choices, and that we’ll both
be going to the same area,” said Dale, who will be heading to UNC for
her residency in internal medicine. At Duke, Page will be
studying pediatrics - the specialty with the greatest number of
residency placements for UVA students for the second year in a row.

After months of waiting and wondering, medical students from across
the country learn their fate during similar annual Match Day
celebrations, which mark the yearly culmination of the residency
interview process coordinated by the National Resident Matching Program
(NRMP). The NMRP was established in 1952 to provide a uniform date of
appointment to positions in graduate medical education (GME) in the
United States.

“This is always an exciting day and we are proud of the outstanding
programs you have been selected to attend,” said Richard Pearson, MD,
Senior Associate Dean for Education, as he saluted the University of
Virginia School of Medicine Class of 2011.

Of the 133 fourth-year students who matched, 16 will remain at the
University of Virginia Health System to continue their training. In
all, students will be training in 28 states and Washington, D.C. – the
furthest placement is in Hawaii. Four members of the UVA School of
Medicine Class of 2011 will defer residency to do research or to pursue
their master’s of public health degree.

The highest number of students, 25, will be training in pediatrics,
followed by internal medicine with 20 trainees, anesthesiology with 12,
emergency medicine with 11, radiology with 10, family practice with 9,
and obstetrics and gynecology with 8.